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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the original case.